The theoretical basis of heat flux sensor pen

1Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland City, New Zealand2Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland City, New Zealand

Abstract

Measuring heat flux out or into a process surface is of significant practical interest. Miniaturization of the sensor and the capability of dynamic sensing are highly desirable. In this paper, the theoretical basis of a heat flux sensor ‘pen’ idea has been established, which allows for real-time measurements. Here the thin temperature measuring wires (thermocouple) are used as the heat flux sensing and heat carrier device. Such a device is shown to be feasible with the available solutions obtained using a semi-empirical approach employing Laplace transformation method combined with an intermediate curve-fitting procedure in the case of finite sensor length and exact solution already available in literature in the semi-infinite domain case.

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